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How Crystal Palace star Wilfried Zaha interfered with Manchester United summer transfer
Aaron Wan-Bissaka claims advice from ex-Crystal Palace team-mate Wilfried Zaha played a part to him joining Manchester United this summer.
Manchester United full-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka has revealed he received transfer advice from Wilfried Zaha before joining the Red Devils.
United splashed out £50million to sign the 21-year-old from Crystal Palace as part of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s plan to bolster the defence.
At Selhurst Park, Wan-Bissaka starred alongside former United winger Zaha, who returned to the south London club in 2015.
And the attacker gave his then-team-mate some stern advice before he headed north.
“It started with him,” Wan-Bissaka said of Zaha.
“If you see him in training, he goes past players for fun, so when I played against him, a lot of people were shocked; firstly because I wasn’t a right-back, but also because they hadn’t seen anyone keep up with him before, so I kind of gave him that challenge, which helped both of us.
”It prepared me for the kind of player I’d be up against when I made my debut. I learnt a lot from him.
“I’m still in touch with a few people at the club. When I signed for United, Wilf gave me advice too. He told me: ‘When you come in, don’t go in your shell. You came here for a reason. Play without fear. Do what you did last season and keep consistent’.
“He was very positive about United.”
United take on Palace in the Premier League this afternoon and Wan-Bissaka will come up against former ally Zaha.
And the England right-back is prepared to put their friendship on hold for 90 minutes.
“I haven’t seen them in a while, so it’ll be nice to catch up,” the defender added.
“But at the same time, once that whistle goes, I’ll forget about my past with them.
”I’m a United player and I’ve got to focus on us getting the result.
“It’ll be good to see a few faces, though.”